For The Planet

Before I became vegan I had absolutely no idea how much animal agriculture production affected our environment. “Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption and pollution, is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry, and is a primary driver of rainforest destruction, species extinction, habitat loss, topsoil erosion, ocean “dead zones,” and virtually every other environmental ill. Yet it goes on, almost entirely unchallenged” (Cowspiracy, 2015).

Cowspiracy was one of the documentaries that really educated me on this issue, and I highly suggest you all watch it, afterall, it’s the very thing we need in order to survive.

Some facts that I got from this documentary are:

Greenhouse Gases

Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation

Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions

Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years